Thoughts on the Dannemora Prison break: God won’t keep you out of prison

Dannemora Prison is located in upstate New York, not all that far from where I lived for many years. People in Dannemora — and any prison really — can see life in a very simple way: There are those on the outside and those on the inside — behind lock and key. And those on the inside are always dreaming about being on the outside.
Sometimes, should circumstances all come together, such a dream can come true — if not officially, due to the system eventually letting them out, then unofficially, due to their own efforts in breaking out.
As I write these words, the two men who escaped from Dannemora are still on the loose, having pulled off their recent and apparently amazing prison break in grand style, worthy — no doubt — of a made-for-TV movie after there is some resolution to the situation and the men end up either back in prison or dead.
It is not hard at all to understand why someone would want to escape from prison. Especially those who might be serving life sentences. And some prisons are far worse than others, adding that something “special” (the overwhelmingly harsh and monotonous drabness and oppression of daily life that makes one practically wish for an early death to escape the inner prison of psychological and emotional mental torment) that stirs that desire to escape and allows it to ultimately be fanned into flames.
There are some people who must be kept away from the general population; there are some people who must never be allowed out in “polite society” ever again; and there are some people who must be given harsh punishment to make even the tiniest adjustment in the scales of justice for the crimes that they’ve committed — as well as to show others still on the outside, who might think they can do as they please and literally get away with murder, that their kind of crime really does not pay.
We all know that some kinds of crimes seem to “pay” — and handsomely at that. Some people manage to pull off their particular crimes and get away with it for years, whether because of an extremely clever web of deceit, having a circle of accomplices who are being blackmailed or in some way convinced or coerced to never tell, or possibly because of lack of proper investigation down the path that would lead to bringing such crimes out in the open. Well, for those who are still uncaught, as of today they may feel they are safe, but if they’ve ever watched Forensic Files, they know they can and probably will be found out as time goes by and investigative techniques improve. And regardless of their not-yet-caught status, they are hardly free from the
psychological, emotional, and mental effects of their crimes and the ultimate penalty that looms ahead.
One would think, based on the number of prisoners behind bars today and the frequency of the violent, cruel, and sometimes even senseless crimes that those on both sides of the bars keep committing, that God has forsaken both the perpetrators who commit those crimes and the victims who are left behind to suffer from them. That may well be why it’s easy for those who wish to lead such a life to continue along that path: If God has already forsaken them, they might think, what’s to lose? Why not go for it in whatever way will get them what they want now, since there can’t be any “getting” later?
It has been my experience that one operates — for better or for worse — from the set of beliefs one carries around. Whether those beliefs are based on truth or not doesn’t seem to matter — if they are believed, then they are the foundation for the behavior. It therefore logically follows: change the beliefs, change the behavior. We can all think of beliefs that have caused certain people to act a certain way that they would not have otherwise acted, were it not for that belief.
Think of a jealous man or woman who is operating under the mistaken belief that their spouse or partner is cheating. Think of a person who erroneously believes someone is trying to kill him. Think of a child who takes his mother’s admonitions literally and believes that the devil will come to get him if he isn’t perfectly well-behaved. And on and on.
And if someone believes there is no God, and therefore, that there’s nothing to be concerned about following death — unless one wants to be concerned about nonexistence, about which one can do nothing anyway — one takes chances and does whatever will suit one’s state of affairs at the time, from stealing what one wants, to killing those in one’s
way, or worse.
Believing in God will not keep one out of prison, but it just might give one pause as to what life is all about. One could surmise that the two escaped prisoners don’t believe in God or don’t believe that it matters whether or not he is real. Perhaps it never occurred to them — or to any of those who commit heinous prison-worthy crimes — that it’s not just about the existence of God, it’s about receiving ultimate justice.
Justice is not always what the courts say it is. (The innocent are also in prison.) Justice is not always what anyone might like it to be. (The mob mentality is never on the side of Justice — it’s on the side of what the mob believes would be justice, and is often wrong.)
The hardcore criminal might think that if he gets away with his crime and has things go his way, that that’s justice — for him. But Justice always entails having the actual unvarnished truth be known, by all (including the perpetrator), and really understanding that truth so no one can say anything to the contrary or feel that something was left out. And, ultimate justice must include whatever it takes to bring the universe back into balance. Should the perpetrator — the wanton criminal who thinks nothing of hurting or killing others to get his way — never come to see the true error of his ways and feel the deep remorse that would naturally go with such after-the-fact awareness, Justice could not and would not allow him to continue on in eternity with that killing and hurting mindset. If one cannot be part of the brotherhood of man — God’s family — one cannot live in God’s world.
So to all those would-be criminals out there who look up to those hardcore criminals who are already on that path, don’t count on God to keep you out of prison, as if he would cover you with some magic shawl of invincibility or even invisibility while you commit your crime — just because you might believe in him or think you are special. God does not play favorites and justice will always prevail in the long run.
It is my belief that while God will not keep you out of prison, he can help you to be the kind of person who probably won’t ever need to go there in the first place.
Maramis Choufani is the Managing Editor of the Las Vegas Tribune. She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact Maramis, email her at maramis@lasvegastribune.com.